It's Nice to Know
by chocolate chip wookiee
Summary: Set during Threads, Jack and Jacob talk. I know it's been done hundreds of times but I just couldn't get it out of my mind. S/J R&R please


_Disclaimer:_ Still don't own Stargate or any of the characters. If I did, things would be different.

_Spoilers: _Threads, season 8

It's Nice to Know

General Jack O'Neill entered the observation room, currently transformed into an intensive care unit. It was almost midnight and the room was silent except for the quiet bleeping of the ECG. There, in the middle of the dark empty room lay Jacob Carter, a former USAF General, the father of his 2IC, but first and foremost, his friend. When doctor Brightman briefed him on Jacob's condition, Jack didn't understand half of what she was saying. He did, however, get the most important part. Jacob was dying. And the snake in his head couldn't do a thing about it, for it was dying too.

Jacob was fast asleep, his head resting on the pillow, face paler than Jack had ever seen before. Jack was about to turn to leave when he noticed a figure lying on the bed next to Jacob's. He walked over to the bed slowly and stood at the bedside, studying the uniformed woman curled into a ball on the white sheets.

_She must have been here for hours. _He'd last seen her nearly five hours earlier when he ran into her in a corridor. He noted how tired she looked and suggested she went home and got some sleep. He knew for a fact that she hadn't been off the base since the afternoon she turned up on his doorstep. The afternoon so much should have been said. The afternoon Jacob collapsed. The afternoon that was the beginning of the end. Since then, she'd hardly slept or eaten and spent her time either at her father's bedside or in her lab buried under tons of work. He was dying to be at her side to support her and to make sure she didn't put her own health at risk by neglecting basic human needs. But he couldn't. There was too much going on and he had no time to be anything but Brigadier General Jack O'Neill, Head of Stargate Command. Then, of course, there was Kerry. And Pete.

Sam frowned in her sleep and the ever-present-for-the-past-few-days crease of worry on her forehead deepened as she shivered slightly. Without thinking, Jack walked over to a counter in the corner and took a folded blanket from the pile. He carefully pulled the cover over Sam's sleeping form and tucked it gently around her neck, letting his hand rest on her shoulder for a moment.

"And I thought you came to see _me_."

Jack lifted his head, startled, and saw Jacob looking at him with a faint smile. He shoved his hands into his pockets. "I did. But you seemed to be _sleeping_. And then I saw…" he motioned towards Sam. "And I, uh, I thought that she might…"Jack was looking for words that wouldn't betray what Jacob already knew.

"It's okay, Jack, you don't have to explain yourself to me."

Jack nodded and moved to stand at Jacob's bedside. The older man was gazing at him intently, then he slowly turned his head and looked lovingly at the sleeping woman, a tender smile lighting up his pale face. "Besides, it's nice to know that there's someone out there to watch over my little girl."

Jack followed Jacob's gaze and smiled softly as his 2IC shifted a little, adjusting the blanket he'd given her just a minute ago. Never taking his eyes of her, Jack replied quietly. "Always."

The two men looked at each other, fully understanding the meaning of that simple word. Jacob nodded slowly. "Just don't let it take you too long. She's stubborn."

"I wonder where she got that from." Jack tried to lighten the mood but Jacob just gave him a stern look and continued.

"Jack, I'm dying." He said matter-of-factly. Jack opened his mouth to say something, but Jacob wouldn't let him. "Don't say anything. I'm dying; the last thing I want is for my daughter to be married to this guy just to make her point. She could never be happy with him." Again, Jack wanted to interrupt but never got the chance. "We both know it. And she knows it too."

Jack's only response was a bitter smile. Jacob sighed.

"Just promise me you won't let her do anything stupid. Promise me you'll be there for her." Jacob was breathing heavily; the long monologue had obviously exhausted him. Jack put a comforting hand on his arm.

"As I said, Jacob, always."

And it was a promise.

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